We support
the aspirations of hundreds of millions of people committed to climate
justice, economic transformation, equality, human rights, the environment,
gender justice, and the rights of workers, children, refugees, Indigenous peoples
and faith-based communities.

We #StandTogether with people around the world
who envision a better future and we welcome the World Economic Forum’s (WEF)
focus in 2020 on ‘Stakeholders for a Cohesive and Sustainable World’. Yet the
Forum’s focus this year in Davos, fifty years on, will ring hollow unless it
matches the vision, courage and clarity displayed by those on the frontlines of
the climate movement - the young people, women, scientists and community
organisers who are leading the way around the world.

We
believe it’s time for decision-makers joining the World Economic Forum Annual
Meeting to declare a Climate Emergency in their own countries and companies and
urgently take the measures necessary to protect humanity and our planet,
including some of our most vulnerable communities.

To
maximise our chance of limiting global warming to 1.5°C, we must halve global
emissions by 2030 and reach Net-Zero by 2050. This means governments, business, investors and civil
society must work together to rapidly transform our economy by the end of the decade,
with a just and carefully managed transition that tackles inequalities and
upholds human and labor rights.

To deliver a
just transition for workers and communities we must:

End Fossil Fuel Exploration and
Extraction – Rapidly phase out exploration, extraction and use,
with high-income countries making the fastest reductions and investors
divesting from fossil fuels.

Make Polluters Pay– Put a meaningful price on
pollution and make emitters pay for the true cost of their activities on human health and the environment.

Building a
thriving, regenerative, more equal future will require exponential innovation
and a new social contract, with fair taxation, human rights, sustainable
development, women’s rights and redistribution of
resources at the center.

It will require
governments to pass laws requiring companies to respect human rights and
implement due diligence to identify, address and disclose their social and
environmental impacts and prevent and remedy the
abuse that is currently endemic in their operations and supply chains. Companies
will need to comply strictly with laws, put policies in place quickly and
publish and implement clear and just transition plans.

If we do this, we
have the possibility of creating millions of jobs and building a better, safer
and more prosperous future that works for the many, not just the few, with
clean air, restored biodiversity, and affordable, renewable and dependable
energy and transport while increasing access to human rights, including health
and education, in every community.

It’s
time for influential companies and countries who are standing in the way of
this future to wake up! The current model no longer serves humanity and the
planet and cannot be sustained. We appeal to these decision-makers, heavily
represented at the Davos Meeting to heed this call: Declare a climate emergency,
end fossil fuel exploration and extraction, end fossil fuel subsidies and make
polluters pay the true cost of their activities.

We
further implore these actors to respect the fundamental rights of activists
working on these issues to freedom of expression, association and peaceful
assembly. This means putting measures in place at a country level or in company
operations to minimize risks to activists and protect them from reprisals.

In our opinion, any company that is
not operating in a clear and transparent way to support transformative public
policies, or failing to respect human rights and the environment, by
identifying, disclosing and addressing its negative impacts, is not meeting its
responsibilities to society.

Any government or multilateral agency
that continues to sanction or subsidise fossil fuel extraction is equally
failing humanity. Governments must meet
the basic needs and rights of disadvantaged communities and lead a just transition
toward an emissions free future.

Every
day of delay increases the challenge of achieving sustainability and cohesion.
Every voice that speaks out places pressure on those responsible for further
climate breakdown, human rights abuses, and deepening inequality. As we begin
this decisive decade, it's time for governments and companies meeting at Davos
to decide whether they stand with humanity for our common future.